About Me

A few good baking blogs

Friday, January 11, 2013

Now THAT's dedication

I really thought I was a model of determination and persistence when I baked the same loaf of bread every week for a year, a whopping 52 loaves of peasant bread, trying to get it right (at first, trying to get it just edible), until I received the following e-mail from a fan of 52 Loaves, the book the details my half-baked adventure:

My neighbor loaned to me your $64 Tomato last
summer. I loved it since we have grown tomatoes in our garden for 40
years. I just finished your book, 52 Loaves. I
couldn't put it down since I could relate. I have made this
same bread for 42 years for our family (4 loaves every 2 weeks).

Forty-two years?! That's 4,368 loaves (compared,
remember, to my 52). Surely that's qualifies for an entry in the
Guinness Book of records, no? (By the way, this looks like darn good
sandwich and toasting bread.) But, wait, it gets better. She and her
husband (who also bakes) grind their own wheat, in this wonderful
plywood contraption here, something called a Miracle Mill, that they purchased in
1973. No little countertop Williams-Sonoma mill for these hardy Oregon
(no surprise, there) homesteaders-- they feed this beast with 50-pound
bags of flour!

I feel like such a wimp! But it's a great (and encouraging) story, and thanks, and bravo!, my anonymous friends, for sharing and allowing me to share with you. Occasionally, something comes into your inbox which makes you feel good -- and hopeful -- about America. And for me, at least, surprisingly often, it has something to do with bread.